Linda Connor

The dots and handprints depicted here were painted by Ancestral Puebloan people near present-day Navajo Nation territory in Utah. They date from the 1100s, the same time period that that saw the construction of many cathedrals and religious structures across Europe, including Tintern Abbey, seen in the print on the right. A non-Indigenous photographer, Linda Connor describes how her familiarity with this different but contemporaneous cultural context—that of medieval Europe—informed her contemplation of this site: “I love knowing that the cathedral at Chartres . . . and many of the finest rock art panels in the Southwest were all made during the 12th century. They are all infused with a spirit which is still apparent and resonating today.” 

–SM

The enigmatic allure of Linda Connor’s photographs arises from both her subject matter and photographic technique. For more than 25 years, she has traveled to spiritually resonant places and photographed them with a large-format camera that enables her to capture incredible detail. Here, she renders the texture of the rock wall with the same sensitivity she displays in recording pictographs made by ancient Anasazi. Connor’s images were contact-printed, a labor intensive process in which the negative was pressed against photo-sensitive paper and exposed to direct sunlight in much the same manner as the earliest photographs were printed in the 19th century. The resulting image-gold-toned to enhance the richness of its surface-invites contemplation of the trace of the Anasazi culture.

Students of Callahan, Connor and Gowin perhaps both took from him the idea that photographs can be quiet, subjective meditations. Connor has traveled the world photographing ancient and powerful cultures in touch with the natural world. Her images seem to capture the spirituality of a place. Humankind’s relationship to land has also been an important part of Gowin’s exploration. The photographs here are from an extended series that focuses on his wife’s family and the Virginia property where its members have lived for four generations. Callahan’s images of family were an example to Gowin, as they demonstrated that one need not travel far to discover a potent subject. Pictured here is Gowin’s niece, Nancy, revealing the marvel of everyday life.